1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for protecting an occupant of a vehicle and, more particularly, to an air bag device for a knee of an occupant as called a "knee bag device".
2. Description of the Related Art
An occupant protecting device having an air bag (or a knee bag) to be extended in front of a knee of the occupant of a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 24110/1972 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 28050/1991. This knee bag can be extended to protect the lower half of the occupant by preventing the submarine motion of the occupant (i.e., the motion of the occupant's body into a spare adjacent the front lower portion of the seat).
The occupant protecting devices, as known in the above-specified individual publications, have their air bag device arranged in front of the center of the seat. As a result, the air bag device is positioned near the knees of the occupant to raise a problem of deteriorating the comfortableness of the vehicle cabin.
In order to protect the occupants on both driver's and passenger's seats, two air bag devices have to be disposed at both the driver's and passenger's seats in accordance with the prior art so that component cost is raised and that the mounting of the air bag devices consumes long time.